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One of the Bank of England’s leading policymakers has said the plummeting price of the pound has been an important “shock absorber” for the British economy in the aftermath of the EU referendum.

With the pound now almost a fifth less valuable compared to the dollar since the vote on June 23, the Bank’s deputy governor Ben Broadbent said the decline was helping soothe some of the effects of having trade relationships thrown into question.

"Having a flexible currency is an extremely important thing, especially in an environment when your economy faces shocks that are different from your trading partners," Mr Broadbent told BBC Radio 5.